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How to Educate Your Customers on Temporary Employee Retention

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PPPPSSSSTTT…..have you heard that recruiting is a challenge for staffing companies right now?

In every conversation I have had with Haley Marketing customers, the challenge of getting enough candidates is a topic of conversation. Once you have the candidate placed on their assignment, whether they stay or not is out of your hands, or is it?

You put in a lot of work to make that placement happen and when the employee calls you after the first week to tell you they aren’t going back, you need to ask yourself if there was more you could have done to avoid the unfortunate situation.

Now more than ever, it is important for you to educate your customers on what they can do to increase retention of the employees you place with them.

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Customers who understand that temporary employee turnover hurts their bottom line are more likely to take extra steps to cut down on the amount of churn. Unless the customer has the realization that turnover costs them money, their perception is that if a Temp leaves, they can just call you for another one and nothing is lost.

Find out what it costs your customers to get an employee trained and present statistics to them based on their volume of temporary help usage. IE: If 20% turnover week 1 the cost is $X, if another 5% turnover after 1 month the total cost is $X. Total cost for the year is $X. After your customer sees that turnover is costing them money, you are more likely to get them to listen to your ideas on what part they can play in retaining the employees you place with them.

First Impressions

Do you remember your first day at your job? You most likely had a bundle of different emotions ranging from excitement to nervousness to fear. It is emotionally draining to start a new job, now imagine going through that range of emotions every week or month.

Encourage your customer to assign buddies to each temporary employee. It can be as simple as greeting them at the door, giving them a tour, introducing them to their supervisor and the rest of their team members and then checking back with them at the end of the first day. Something this simple will leave a lasting impression with the employee, make them feel valued and will decrease chances of a day two NCNS. (no call no show)

Feedback

Let your customers know that it is ok to give direct feedback on work performance whether it is positive or negative. Of course, as the employer of record, any serious performance conversations should be conducted by you, but feedback if an employee could be doing something better or if they are doing an impressive job will be appreciated by the employee.

Minimize the Temp/Internal Divide

Educate your customers that creating a divide between temporary employees and internal staff will increase a Temps dissatisfaction with their assignment. I once had a manufacturing client who had a separate lunchroom for the temporary employees. Making employees feel less valuable or different is not acceptable from a simple human aspect, but for a temporary employee on an assignment, it is giving them one more reason to pick up the phone and ask you for a new assignment, or worse yet…call one of your competitors.

Employee Of The Month

For high volume-long term assignments, suggest having a temporary employee of the week or month program. Work with your customer to define criteria for the award that is communicated to the Temps and publicly present the award. Whenever possible have a member of your staff present for the award. A certificate and a coffee shop gift card are an inexpensive way to incent and reward employees who are often overlooked and not recognized for their good work.

Long Term Rewards

Ask your customer how they reward or recognize their internal staff and replicate that for the long-term temporaries. Do they recognize employee birthdays? Do they recognize anniversary milestones in some way? The more they do to make your temporaries feel like part of their team, the less likely those employees are to move on to another assignment when the opportunity presents itself.

Word Gets Out

There isn’t necessarily a temporary employee circuit, but depending on your market, employees who choose to work temporary assignments often work together at different companies. If an employee has a good experience on assignment, they are likely to tell others. If you are having a hard time filling orders for your customer, educate them on the value of being that account that is drawing candidates to apply with your agency because they want to be placed at XYZ company.

Win Win

There is no downside to the strategy of educating your customers on temporary employee retention. Minimizing turnover saves your customer money, saves you time in re-fills and ensures your employees have a positive employment experience.

Are you experiencing recruitment challenges? Contact the Recruitment Marketing team at Haley Marketing to learn how we can design the ideal recruitment marketing strategy for your company.

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